Monday, May 7, 2012

Welcome to the morning roundup. Here's a look at what's news in banking and finance.

Better than Europe. Legendary investor Warren Buffett says U.S. banks are a class apart from European banks, saying they have "liquidity coming out of their ears" and are in fine shape, Bloomberg reports. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, has more than $20 billion invested in American banks.

Virtual wallets. Merchants are under pressure from the big three credit card companies to upgrade their equipment to accept more secure "smart cards," and many are using the opportunity to also accept smartphone virtual wallets, The New York Times reports. Google is one of the biggest players in the smartphone wallet industry.

Angry Birds. The parent company of the popular smartphone game Angry Birds has drawn in more than $42 million in private equity funding, and speculation is that Rovio could soon go public, The New York Times says. An IPO would follow that of Facebook game maker Zynga.